The quotations, chiefly from the Latin fathers, in this Persones Tale, are so numerous, and often so brief and inexact, that I am not able to give the references in more than a few instances. I have, however, succeeded in finding some of them, such as the one above.
85. In the works of St. Ambrose, the following sentence occurs just above the one cited in the last note: 'Poenitentia vero est dolor cordis, et amaritudo animae pro malis quae quisque commisit.'
89. St. Isidore of Seville is here intended (born A.D. 570, died A.D. 636). Cf. 551 below, (p. 603). I find no passage which precisely answers to this quotation, but I think the following is intended: 'Nam qui plangit peccatum, et iterum admittit peccatum, quasi si quis lavet laterem crudum, quem quanto magis eluerit, tanto amplius lutum facit.'—S. Isidorus, Sententiarum lib. ii. c. 13; ed. Migne, vol. 83, col. 613. Here Isidore does not call the sinner a 'japer,' but says that he is as foolish as a man who washes an unburnt brick; for such a process only produces more mud.
92. St. Gregory the Great, the first pope of that name, is here meant; and the following is probably the passage referred to: 'Ut intelligas in anima gravissimo iniquitatis pondere obrutum ... ut ad sublimia levari jam non valeat, quoniam iniquitatis eam [mentem] gravitudo coarctat.'—S. Gregorius, in Septem Psalmos Poenitentiales Expositio; Ps. xxvii. v. 8; ed. Migne, vol. 79, col. 572.
93. and forlete sinne, and forsake sin before they die. This expression has already occurred at the end of the Phisiciens Tale; see C. 286.
94. Note the glosses in the footnotes; thus tak means tene, i. e. 'keep to'; and siker is certum, i. e. 'sure.'
96. It is quite hopeless to make any sense of this passage. It is perfectly clear that, as Koch suggests (see Anglia, V. pt. ii. p. 135), a considerable portion of the text is here lost. And no doubt it happened in the usual way, viz. by the omission of a clause included between some repeated words, such as that a man. Our author must have described, first of all, three actions of Penitence; and afterwards, three defautes (or defects) in doing penance. All that we have left is a notice of the first action (left unexplained), and a partial
explanation of the three 'defautes.' I suggest, therefore, a lacuna after that a man; and I take it that the original text had: 'The firste accion of Penitence is that a man [do so and so. The second action is, that he do so and so. The third is, that he do so and so. Moreover, ye shall understand that there are three defautes in doing penance. The first is, if that a man] be baptized after that he hath sinned.' Some MSS. read that if a man or if a man before be baptized. I do not see that this helps us, because I do not think that this is where the fault really lies.
97. The quotation here meant is the following: 'Omnis enim, qui iam arbiter voluntatis suae constitutus est, cum accedit ad sacramentum fidelium, nisi eum poeniteat vitae veteris, novam non potest inchoare': Homil. l.; in Opp. Basil. 1569, tom. x. col. 552 C.
100. 'Est enim poenitentia bonorum et humilium fidelium poena quotidiana'; S. Aug. Opp. Basil. 1569, tom. ii. col. 507 A; Epist. cviii.